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Devil continues to wear “counterfeit” Prada: a tale of two cities

Min Teah (The School of Marketing, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.)
Ian Phau (Curtin University)
Yu-an Huang (National Chi Nan University, Nantou, Taiwan)

Journal of Consumer Marketing

ISSN: 0736-3761

Article publication date: 11 May 2015

2485

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the influence of social and personality factors on attitudes towards counterfeiting of luxury brands and purchase intention between China Chinese and Taiwan Chinese consumers.

Design/methodology/approach

Data collection was conducted using a mall intercept approach in downtown Shanghai and Taipei. A self-administered questionnaire was developed and back-translated from English to Chinese and distributed. Structural equation modelling in LISREL was used to analyze the data.

Findings

It was found that collectivism has a positive relationship with attitudes towards counterfeiting of luxury brands for the China Chinese but not for the Taiwan Chinese. Personal gratification was found to have a negative relationship with attitudes towards counterfeiting of luxury brands for the Taiwan Chinese consumers. Integrity and status consumption were found to have a positive relationship with attitudes towards counterfeiting of luxury brands for both the China Chinese and Taiwan Chinese consumers.

Research limitations/implications

The findings are limited to comparison between China Chinese from Shanghai and Taiwan Chinese from Taipei; therefore, the results may not be generalizable across all Chinese consumers or international consumers. In addition, only luxury brands were examined in this paper. Future studies would need to address other contexts or specific product categories.

Practical implications

This paper presents findings from two Chinese cities. The consumers may be from the same region; however, it is found from the study that they pose different attitudes and purchase intentions towards counterfeits of luxury brands. Therefore, the insights from this paper provide a deeper understanding into the differences between Chinese consumers and implications for practitioners, academics and policy makers.

Originality/value

Majority of the cross-national studies are often compared between the so-called Western or Eastern countries. This paper examined counterfeiting from China (which is deemed as one of the largest manufacturers of counterfeits) and Taiwan (which was one of the largest counterfeiters decades ago). This provides insights into the development and differences between regional consumers and their attitudes towards counterfeits of luxury brands.

Keywords

Citation

Teah, M., Phau, I. and Huang, Y.-a. (2015), "Devil continues to wear “counterfeit” Prada: a tale of two cities", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 176-189. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-03-2014-0908

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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